Hex Gunner 5 (15)

High Noon at Midnight

Hex gunners weave iron and lead with Hellish sorcery. Gifts from a demon gained during a crossroads deal, a hex gunner's six shooters are demonic constructs that grant the equivalent of years of practice and occult study. Their bullets whisper in the chamber, smoking with necromancy, then scream with exultant, hellish fury when fired. Each round is imbued with fragments of souls from those the hex gunner has previously defeated in gunfights.

Hex gunners may be pledged to a literal lord of Hell (or some other occult being of damnation and pain, such as a ghost rider). Only if they harvest a certain number of souls during their gunfighting career is their own soul safe from being claimed when their life ends. That value may be visible as a glowing number burning in their eyes.

Motive: Reap souls for Hell

Environment: Almost anywhere

Health: 23

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)

Armor: 2

Movement: Short; long while riding a horse

Modifications: Initiative as level 7

Combat: A hex gunner makes two long range pistol attacks as their action.

A hex gunner also has one or both of the following abilities.

• Hell Hexed Rounds. A bullet that deals damage stays in the wound on a hit, cursing the target until the bullet is surgically removed (each requiring a successful difficulty 6 healing task and inflicting 1 point of ambient damage). Curses vary, including:
  • Soul of damned previous target possesses the new target once per day for one minute on a failed Intellect defense roll. Possessing spirit may work against target, or simply take off seeking some goal of their own.
  • Wound leaks a horrific smell and discharge; target's pleasant interaction tasks are hindered by two steps.
  • Target's GM Intrusion range increases by 1 until bullet is removed.

• Grave Round. If they shoot a corpse, the corpse rises as a zombie that serves the hex gunner for a day. During this period, the zombie can reveal secrets it knew in life to the hex gunner.

Interaction: Hex gunners are mainly concerned with reaping more souls for whoever they are pledged to. Usually, they prefer those souls be already tainted by evil, but hex gunners are angry and impatient as a rule and have nearly as little sympathy for the innocent as they do for the damned.

Use: PCs need information from someone who died. They learn that a "hex gunner" who dwells nearby may be able to communicate with the body.

GM Intrusion: The hex gunner releases a demon from their gun that immediately attacks the character